A 25-year-old pregnant woman identified as Li was killed by her husband on Thursday, February 25, in Zhoukou city, Henan Province. On that fateful day, Li’s husband brutally beat her then slit her throat with a knife.
According to Dahe News, the couple had been married three years ago but it wasn’t a happy relationship. The victim was often subjected to brutal beating by her husband and in one case it was so severe that doctors suggested an abortion. The suspect has been taken into criminal detention, according to local police.
The tragic incident of abuse is not isolated as it highlights the severity of domestic violence that is prevalent across China. A 2015 survey by the All China Women’s Federation, shows that 30% of the 270 million families were affected by family violence.
The survey revealed that 16% of women were beaten by their partners and 14.4% of the surveyed male population admitted to beating their wives. In China, 25% of the 400,000 divorces are attributed to domestic abuses.
China enacted its first domestic violence law last year to address the growing rate of domestic violence. The law will finally come into effect on March 1, 2016
